My friend and colleague, who is also a scientist, says, “Not so.” Opposites do attract and for good reason. According to studies she has perused, humans are often drawn to those who say “poTAYto” when their personal preference is “poTAHto”. (You have to be pretty old to understand that reference.)

It seems that this is Mother Nature’s way of producing “normal” offspring; otherwise, the youngsters would all be busy cleaning, organizing, calculating, and so forth. Or they would be in a constant state of  spilling “stuff”, stumbling over “things”, and searching for lost items, people, and places.

There are some who may doubt our sons are “normal,” but the boys do have some of both of us mixed in with a lot of “them”. Which is a great thing. I’d like to say they inherited the best of their dad and mom, but that’s wishful thinking. Instead, they’ve combined everything together to be A.MAZ.ING people that we love so darn much.

But, I have to say, the best decision this crazy lady made o-so-long-ago was to marry her crush! He was adorable then and even cuter now. In between have been trials and tears, laughter and LOTS OF LOVE!!!!

Before this starts sounding like a Hallmark card, I’m wishing for NOTHING more than many many days of continued adventure.

I love you, my Gar! (not GAHR).

Not am I only a nervous Nelly in the kitchen, I am a worse promoter – “You wouldn’t like to come to my Wildtree Party would you?” (Pause for negative response.) “I didn’t think so.” Or, ” I don’t suppose you’d like to drive to my house out in the western desert on a 3-day weekend to put together 10 freezer meals?” (Pause for another negative response.) “I don’t blame you.”

Anyway, after approaching 20 or so friends, family, acquaintances, and strangers off the street, FIVE folks committed to come. I was thrilled. But as I labored through the pre-workshop preparations, I feared my participants would ask for their money and time back. It took me about 4 hours! BUT remember, I am also a freakin’ SLOW chef. Picture Meryl Streep chopping onions in Julie and Julia before she got good! What took me 240+ minutes took my sister 2 hours and my friend 45 minutes – she used one of those fancy food processors that good cooks use.

Because this was a monumental undertaking – one that I am actually very proud of – I decided to document the experience through pictures. My personal shopper, G.E., actually performed the first step – buy the meat and veggies – but these pics feature my contribution and my party!

Step 1: Skin, chop, dice, and slice!

Step 2: Bag, label, bag, label!

Step 4: Organize the workshop to impress your guests!

Step 6: Party Hearty with your sis and your friend -

the only ones who came!

Final note: 

The three of us had a great time, and now we all have 10 GOURMET meals that each serve  4+ people in our freezers. And what’s even better, we can throw them into the crockpot after thawing them overnight and PRESTO-BINGO, dinner is served.

I feel like I channeled Julia! YaY me, and THANK YOU Connie and Melissa!

P.S. I omitted step 3 – placing the bags in the freezer! =) This post sort of sounds like an INFOMERCIAL, doesn’t it? =)

  PART of my HEART . . .

One Leg …

AND MY WALLET

IN CALIFORNIA!!!

And so I had to “RE-GIFT” my sugar cookie

the department director gave to me!

My Courtroom Hero

I find it a little ironic that soon after I publicly pledged to soften my judgments in 2013, I was summoned to appear in the 4th District Court in Provo for a jury selection process.

This may be hard to believe, but in my 64+ years, I’ve never been asked to perform this honor! And while many consider jury duty an inconvenience, I was excited to serve. I wanted to put years of watching courtroom dramas – including the classic Perry Mason – to use, but I was disappointed.

While the case concerning aspects of “eminent domain” wasn’t exciting like a murder trial would be, it was important. The jury was being asked to determine whether or not the Department of Transportation paid the landowner the “fair market value” of his property as described under the law. And I was eliminated; voted off the jury; sent packing.

For the rest of the afternoon, I tried to figure out why. Was it because …

1. I looked too eager to serve? (I smiled a lot.)
2. Because I only made 2 comments? While many jurors replied to many of the 25 questions directed to all of us, I only raised my hand twice to share these important responses:
   1. “Yes, I work for the state as I am an educator for Jordan School District.”
   2. “If we (meaning the jury) don’t smile and say hello to you attorneys, don’t YOU take it personally.” (That was in response to the prosecuting attorney’s explanation that no involved lawyers would respond to jury members outside of the courtroom. “But don’t take it personally,” he added.)
3. Because I honestly thought I could set aside my biases to determine what was “fair market value” as described by the law? I noticed one of the “chosen ones” expressed beliefs that landowners should receive a bonus when forced to sell their land. I almost raised my hand to remind everyone that such a bonus would come from tax-payers’ pockets. If I had said that, I might have made the cut as the prosecution would have chosen me to counter-balance the “pro-bonus” juror. Right?
4. Was I booted because I work in Salt Lake County – home to more liberal citizens than those of Utah County?
5. Or because my phone vibrated too loudly?
6. Perhaps because I brought Diet Coke into the courtroom where drinks were prohibited?
7. Maybe it was because I wore jeans, and the judge thought that was disrespectful.

Who knows, and while I will never learn what excluded me from this educational experience, I think they will ask me again. Why? Because now they have my number, and besides, I’ve read a lot of John Grisham!!

I’ll continue the march towards good health and a balanced budget, but those are NOT 2013′s goals. Instead, I’ve pondered upon what resolve I should most pursue and zeroed in on “softening my judgments.” I’m realistic enough to know eliminating all judgments is beyond me, but I think with enough focus and fortitude, I can make course corrections.

This means I need to ward off gut reactions – they’re so often wrong –  to listen more, and to talk less.

Told you it’d be dang hard.

“Love One Another”

“Squash” Unkindness

I know they are a stretch, but I’ve waited so long for a correlating topic to post these pix I snapped in 2010!

I have shared a few on FaceBook, but those fly away, too. Even if my thoughts are not profound, they deserve to be recorded. Even in snippets. And so once again, I’ll go for brevity: 100 words or less.

And hope some of those lost gems return!

Yesterday, I found this addressed envelope sitting atop the shredder and couldn’t help but laugh at my type A husband.

For as long as I can remember, I’ve watched him pull out a ruler before addressing envelopes. Who does this? I mean his printing looks like it could be one of the word-processing font choices on a drop-down menu – you know like “Bradley Hand ITC”. Only this script would be christened “Gary Hand GE”. (I can’t add “ITC” because the International Typeface Corporation didn’t design it, but I can include G.E. because Gary Eugene created the script, complete with “serif” – the little feet attached to the S’s. Hope you’re impressed with my fount of font knowledge.)

Anyway, this careful scripting says a lot about my old school husband and his preciseness. In general, today’s men do not print neatly, but Gar always has. In his mind, however, that’s not good enough for the Postal Department as the lines need to be straight, Hence the ruler.

I’m not sure where this habit comes from. I don’t think he’s read the high cost of illegible handwriting in the medical field; if he had, his scribble signature would be decipherable. Of course, Gar is not a medical professional; so that is irrelevant. What I do think, however, is that he a perfectionist in some areas, plus he does not want to risk late delivery of bills – which brings us to the other revelation about him. He HATES online bill-pay, and wishes I would abandon the practice. (I told him I will as soon as he takes over all the household accounting duties, which he is in the process of doing. YaY!) At any rate, he continues to mail bills or hand deliver them. Sheesh!

If any of you have received a note or card from my husband, you may remember that the envelope was addressed just as carefully as any of our bills. Feel honored. =) As a result, I have been thinking about hiring him out to address wedding invitations. Any takers?

I warned you this would be a silly post. I guess I could ask what writing about this says about me. But I won’t. And if a kind-hearted reader out there wants to take care of our car payment, you can send it to the clearly written address above.

Have a great day. R.

I need to describe  some great and some not-so-great occasions that occurred over the last 3 months, but right now, I think I’ll just let you know the biggest change in the lives of G.E. and me has happened. My husband of 43 years turned 65 on the last day of August – the very day he retired from his job. This is HUGE, I tell you. ALL kinds of implications here. But he is EXcitED, and so am I – even though I am still punching the clock for at least another year, and maybe longer.

When asked, “What’re you going to do?”, his answer is “Whatever I want!” Isn’t that cool?

NO MORE Suits and Ties!

Yesterday we celebrated G.E.’s retirement with most of our family at my favorite Wines Park in Lehi – it has LOTS of big, shady trees. Ahhh. Anyway, between eating and visiting, volleyball and lawn darts, swings and slides, I shared my husband’s work history. I had been thinking about it a lot, AND I realized there were lessons to be learned. So here it is – more or less.

• 9 Years-Old: Fuller Brush PRE-salesman. Went door to door with is his older sister giving away Fuller Brush gifts – like potato scrubbers – in an attempt to line up appointments for his dad.
• 11: Corn-Thinner on LDS Church Welfare Farm in Elberta. Now that was a blast! NOT!
• 11 or 12: Sweeper at Fisher Drugstore. Job expanded from sweeping out a neighborhood drug store to caring for the owner’s yard
• 14: Golf course grounds keeper at Willow Creek Golf Course. G.E. also claimed the maintenance shed for his home at one time when he ran away for a couple of days!
• 15-going-on-16: Builder. Spent a summer building the Scout Camp up at Bear Lake. Woke up to rattle snakes, had to kill one, and so he skinned it and mounted the epidermis on a wooden plaque we had for years! Also, worked without a shirt next to the lake and suffered a 3rd degree SUN BURN. G.E. still has remains of that summer scarred on his left arm. Crazy kid!
• 16: Bag-boy the new Albertson’s Grocer Store only to be laid off after the grand opening. Management kept his buddy Jim, but “pink-slipped” G.E. (That still ticks him off.)
• 16-19: Part-time ware-houseman.  Unloaded boxcars where he froze in the winters and sweltered in the summers. Pretty good pay for a teenager during the 60s but it was hard and dirty work. Eventually became an order-picker, a step above unloading boxcars. Greatly disliked this job and swore NEVER to work there again.
• 17: Horse-breaker. After being kicked out of the LDS Seminary (classes of religious study for secondary school students), his teacher agreed to pass him if he and his trouble-making buddy would help break his Appaloosa horses. Now THAT was fun!
• 19-21: LDS missionary. Worked for the Lord in Virginia and North Carolina.
• 21-22: Ware-houseman again. Back to the warehouse while attending college and providing for me, his new wife!
• 22: Parts Manager at Telemation, a job that only lasted during the summer of 1969 because G.E. was DRAFTED! To reduce the chances of being sent to Vietnam, G.E. enlisted so he’d have a few more choices.
• 22-24: Soldier – worked for Uncle Sam in the U.S. Army in Frankfurt, Germany. The gamble paid off. We felt so fortunate in being sent to Europe vs. Vietnam!
• 22-23: Weapons-Cleaner. While serving as supply sergeant, G.E. cleaned M14s and M16s for GIs who didn’t want to care for their own weapons. For $4 a month from each participating soldier, he kept them “inspection-ready” – guaranteed!
• 24:  Ware-houseman. Back again to supplement our income from G.I. Bill because now there was a wife AND baby to support.
• 25-29: Army Reservist and member of the ROTC – Yep, G.E. decided to join the ROTC as a back-up plan in case he couldn’t find a job after graduation, but he was assigned a position in artillery; so said, “No thanks,” and resigned. Which he could do because he’d already served his time.
• 25: Data Miner. The firm with no name. We can’t remember the company.. One day I called him at work to ask him something and was told my husband no longer worked there! He was laid off but didn’t want to tell me because I was expecting number 2, and he didn’t want to worry me. Guess where he found a job ….
• 26-28: Ware-houseman. See a pattern here?
• 28-29: Manager at Minit Mart, a  gas station and little grocery store owned by my cousin.
• 29-31: Assistant, assistant, assistant manager-in-training. Recruited out of college for the management program at Sav-on Drug store which meant a move to San Jose, CA. LONG, LONG hours and LITTLE pay. Started at $11,000. And baby #3 was en-route.
• 31-32: Area manager at Imperial Valet. Oversaw the maintenance of Mervyn’s Department Stores throughout northern California. A difficult job because if the cleaning crews didn’t show up in the middle of the night, G.E. had to find out why, arrange substitutes OR go clean the store himself!!!!
• 32-42: General foreman, supervisor, trainer at National Semi-Conductor in CA and UT: Best job he’d had up until then. Opportunity to grow and eventually provided the experience in management that he needed to progress.
• 42-46: Lawn caretaker, custodian at A&K Railroad, Yellow Pages deliveryman. WHAT HAPPENED? Laid off from National, and while looking for a job, G.E. started his own lawn service company and worked at any other job he could find. Our growing boys helped him, and also helped me. I had returned to college, and G.E. didn’t want me to quit. I applied for every grant, scholarship, and loan I could find and he and my sons helped me graduate! I still cry when I think about it. I LOVE YOU GUYS!
• 42-44: Human Resource Manager and  then Sr. VP of Benefits at First Security Bank. After four and a half months, G.E. found this position. Grateful for the work, we had to stretch an income that was just over a third of what he’d been earning at National Semi-Conductor. So he and the boys kept up the lawn jobs, and I kept going to school.
• 44-46: Human Resource Manager at RC Willey Furniture Store. Wells Fargo was in the process of taking over First Security, and G.E. was unemployed again until he was able to hire on at the largest chain of furniture stores in Utah.
• 46-47: HR Manager at Health Rider. Seeing little future at RCW, G.E. took a chance and joined a new and upcoming company. Not a great decision. He was laid off once more when the “growing” company sold out to a “grown” company.
• 47-65: HR Manager, HR Director, Business Analyst at LDS Church. The best career G.E. ever had. Even though this experience centered on the secular side of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, he still felt a part of something important in helping the kingdom grow. His work in Human Resources enabled him to help others in a multitude of ways. He had opportunities to rub shoulders with so many fine men and women, to travel and work in areas of the U.S., Mexico, and the Caribbean. It was a tremendous blessing in our lives.

Reflecting upon my husband’s work history helped me appreciate him even more than I already do. I always realized that he would do whatever needed to take care of his family. We had decided that I would work at being a stay-at-home mom, especially when the boys were young. No matter how rough it was,  my sweet husband never pressured me to abandon that decision.

I remember when G.E. was out of work, a neighbor invited him to leave his lawn care service and janitorial work to sell Amway. When G.E. turned him down, the man was flabbergasted, and he said he would never do manual work like my husband did. It’s not that G.E. had anything against selling Amway, he just knew we needed the income that moment, and we couldn’t wait for him to build a clientele or depend upon the uncertainty of commissions.

At one point we realized that a lay-off was in National Semi-conductor’s future that would affect us. The boys were older and reaching mission and college ages. We knew it was time for me to finish my education so that I could help with these heavy expenses as a school teacher. I will forever appreciate the sacrifice he and our sons made to not only keep food on the table but to keep Mom in school. I love you, Gary Eugene. And I always will. 

Today, we left mums, small versions of Old Glory, and lots of love at the grave sites of our fathers and mother. We have not forgotten you, Daddy, Chuck, and Pat. AND we miss you oh so very much.

Love Renae and Gary

Our traditional, yearly photo op: Connie B, Cute Mama, and me.

The “past-its-prime” flower and note are from a Cub Scout den, and they are saying thanks for Dad’s service to his country. Sweet, huh?

This man was a great son to his parents, and he’s a wonderful husband to me!

It’s wonderful to see that their 5 children honor Charles Harold and Jenny (Pat) with flowers and loves!